What Is Really Behind the Saudi-Iranian Cold War?
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Opinion Document 71/2017 30 June, 2017 Ana Belén Soage* What is really behind the Saudi- Iranian cold war? Visit WEB Receive Newsletter What is really behind the Saudi-Iranian cold war? Abstract: The conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is routinely explained away as a sectarian rift, but this paper argues that the rise in sectarian tensions is a consequence, rather than the cause, of the rivalry between the two regional powers. The Kingdom has resorted to playing the sectarian card in response to the ideological challenge posed by Iran, which tries to woo Sunni Muslims to its side by advocating a political system that combines Islam and a democracy of sorts. For its part, the Islamic Republic prefers to downplay the Sunni-Shiite split and emphasises the need for Islamic unity against foreign enemies, notably Israel and the US. In addition, both Riyadh and Tehran are concerned about regime survival, which is a major factor in their foreign policy and how it is framed. Keywords: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State/Daesh, al-Qaeda, Wahhabism, Islamism, Islamic Awakening, Axis of Resistance. *NOTA: The ideas contained in the Opinion Documents are the responsibility of their authors, without necessarily reflecting the thinking of the IEEE or the Ministry of Defense. Documento de Opinión 71/2017 1 What is really behind the Saudi-Iranian cold war? Ana Belén Soage Western journalists, analysts and politicians often attribute the ongoing volatility in the Islamic world to one main cause: the sectarian split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.1 That would be the reason behind the enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two regional powers vying for leadership of the Islamic world, and of the wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. According to this narrative, such state of affairs is inevitable; after all, Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting each other ever since prophet Muhammad died and his followers fell out over his succession. The current conflicts, which have been dubbed a new Middle Eastern “cold war,”2 would just be the most recent manifestation of a centuries-old antagonism. However, that explanation fails to take into account the factors that normally influence state policies and perpetuates the stereotype of the Islamic world as somewhat exceptional and impervious to the usual political categories. We shouldn’t be too critical of Western commentators for their reductionism. Some of the actors involved in those conflicts have chosen to frame them in sectarian terms in order to undermine their enemies and mobilise their co-religionaries against the “eternal foe.” And unfortunately, once invoked, sectarianism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the dehumanisation of the other exacerbates the scale and viciousness of the hostilities. Nevertheless, a full understanding of the situation requires revisiting the historical and geopolitical context which has led to an increase in sectarian strife over the last decade or so. Such an exercise reveals that sectarian narratives often conceal more prosaic motivations, and that the current cold war in the Middle East has more to do with ideological competition, regime survival and the regional balance of power than with the Saqifa gathering or the Battle of Karbala.3 1 For example, in his final State of the Union address, Barack Obama referred to the Middle East as “going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia.” See “Transcript of Obama’s 2016 State of the Union Address,” The New York Times, 12 January 2016. In: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/obama-2016-sotu-transcript.html?_r=1 2 The previous Middle Eastern “cold war” opposed two Sunni Arab states, Saudi Arabia and Nasserist Egypt, each aligned with one of the superpowers engaged in the wider Cold War. The expression “Arab cold war” was famously coined by Malcolm H. Kerr in a book of that title first published in 1965. 3 During the Saqifa gathering, which took place shortly after Muhammad’s death, Abu Bakr was appointed as the prophet’s successor (caliph) instead of Ali, who was not present. In the Battle of Karbala, Ali’s son Hussein was killed by the army of Yazid, the son of Ali’s nemesis, Muawiya. Both are seminal events in the Sunni-Shiite dispute. Documento de Opinión 71/2017 2 What is really behind the Saudi-Iranian cold war? Ana Belén Soage From cooperation to antagonism Up until the late 1970s, relations between Iran and its Gulf neighbours were relatively cordial, if not warm. There were several long-running border disputes, and the Arabs criticised Iran for recognising the state of Israel, but their common alliance with the United States kept disagreements in check. Iran and Saudi Arabia were the “twin pillars” of American policy in the region, as guarantors of Western oil supplies and bulwarks against the Leftist ideologies which prevailed at the time. In spite of his modernising secularism at home, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi supported King Faysal’s initiatives in favour of Muslim unity, such as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) and the Muslim World League. In fact, a member of the Saudi royal family remembers that the Shah urged the King to modernise and “let women wear miniskirts” if he wanted to keep his throne; in response, his fellow monarch advised him not to forget that he was the Shah of Iran, not of France.4 The huge increase in revenues which resulted from the post-1973 oil crisis allowed the oil-rich Arab monarchies to finance a vast expansion in the power of the state, invest in ambitious development projects and raise their international profile. At home, they fostered religious conservatism and offered generous benefits to their citizens to ensure quiescence. Abroad, they promoted their reactionary brand of Islam and financed Islamist organisations perceived as ideological allies, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. With their blend of Islam and modern political thought,5 the latter found fertile ground in an Arab world still in shock after the 1967 Six-Day War, which was interpreted by many as the defeat of Arab socialism and as God’s punishment of societies which had distanced themselves from their faith. Islamists gradually became the main focus of opposition to authoritarian and, often, Western-backed regimes, as in Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. 4 The anecdote was related by Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan in an interview in 2001, when he was ambassador to Washington. Subsequent events would reassure the Saudi royal family in their belief that they had taken the right path. Quoted in Elaine Sciolino, “A Nation Challenged: Ally's future; US Pondering Saudis' Vulnerability,” The New York Times, 4 November 2001. In: www.nytimes.com/2001/11/04/world/a- nation-challenged-ally-s-future-us-pondering-saudis-vulnerability.html 5 Islamism emerged in the 1930s with Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and was strongly influenced by Fascism, both organisationally and ideologically. Later authors, like Muslim Brother Sayyid Qutb and Iranian activist Ali Shariati, were influenced by Marxism, e.g. Qutb’s Leninist concept of a revolutionary vanguard. See Ana B. Soage, “Hasan al-Banna or the politicisation of Islam,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 9:1 (March 2008), pp. 21-42; and “Islamism and Modernity: The Political Thought of Sayyid Qutb,” Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10/2 (June 2009), pp. 189-203. Documento de Opinión 71/2017 3 What is really behind the Saudi-Iranian cold war? Ana Belén Soage The Islamist contagion also reached Shiite Iran, where the Shah was considered both a brutal tyrant and a puppet of the West. Many of his opponents read Sunni Islamist authors like Sayyid Qutb and Abul-Ala Maududi alongside their homegrown Ali Shariati.6 They came out in force for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he returned from exile in February 1979, and were instrumental in his conquest of power. Khomeini had developed a political theory he called wilayat al-faqih, o “guardianship of the Islamic jurist,” which meant a radical departure from classical Shiite thought. He argued that until the return of the Hidden Imam7, government should be in the hands of a high-ranking cleric, the person most capable of ruling according to the tenets of Islam. However, Islamists claim to be responsive to the will of the people, whom they believe would freely submit to God’s law if given the chance. Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran combines theocracy and democracy – although the latter is limited to choosing among carefully-vetted candidates. Despite its distinctly Shiite character, the proclamation of the Islamic Republic galvanised Islamists across the sectarian divide. Khomeini did not hide his intention to export the revolution throughout the Islamic world and was fiercely critical of monarchic rule, which he deemed contrary to Islam. Unsurprisingly, that was perceived as a serious ideological challenge by Iran’s Arab neighbours, especially those with significant Shiite populations: Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and, to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia. All four saw major Shiite disturbances, and that was the key factor behind Saddam Hussein’s decision to attack Iran in 1980 and the Gulf monarchies’ support for Iraq during the ensuing eight-year war. For its part, Saudi Arabia witnessed unprecedented unrest in late 1979 in the governorates of Qatif and al-Ahsa, which are home to most of the Kingdom’s Shiites – maybe 20% of the total. Around the same time, Riyadh was dealing with the seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by several hundred zealots led by a Juhayman al-Otaibi. They had acted out of frustration that the Kingdom was moving away from the Wahhabi creed they had been indoctrinated into by Saudi schools, mosques and media.